H: Host
R: Richard Beasley, RemoteXT.com

H: Hello and welcome to today’s webchat, very good of you to join us. Now if you were walking down the street and you were waving lots of this reddy around then you’d probably be described as asking for trouble, looking to be mugged. And you wouldn’t do it would you? No, course you wouldn’t. However what you might do is be walking around with one of these shiny toys. There are millions of them all over the world and it’s been a massive growth industry in the last 10 years, and yet loads of us will walk around, quite happily, with something that’s worth £100, £200, £300, £400 and will do it in the street, will do it in a dark alley – will do it just about anywhere. And when we do that, it’s fraught with dangers because loads of people are out to nick these and make money out of them. So how do we stop that? We’ll find out in just a minute, but here’s a scenario which is just happening oh so often –

“It’s an all too familiar scenario, a pickpocket spots an opportunity. In this case an open handbag. He reaches in, grabs the phone and is gone before the owner even realises it. In seconds it’s all over. Once she’s discovered the phone has gone, the owner needs to act fast. She calls the remote XT helpline:

Good morning, welcome to Remote XT

Yes my phone’s been stolen

Your phone’s been stolen? Can I take your telephone number please?

Ok my ID number is….

Thank you, your phone has now been deactivated, thank you for using Remote XT”

Sound of someone screaming

That is one screaming phone and what a great screaming phone it is. So, how do we stop people wanting to steal mobile phones? Well, we render them useless. I’m delighted to say I’m joined with someone who can tell us a lot more about that – this is Richard Beasley, Richard is from RemoteXT.com – you’re the people who have come up with this little screaming phone device, just explain exactly how it works Richard?

R: Well basically once you subscribe to the RemoteXT.com product, we set up your mobile phone through a series of texts that we send you, so we send you 8 simple text messages that you accept. During that time we’re taking a copy of your whole mobile phone, all the information and data that’s on there, all your ring tones, your text messages, your phone book, any pictures or music you may have downloaded and in addition to that we’re also setting up your phone to have push/pull email which means you can have email on the go continually, very much like you have at home or office with broadband, as well as putting on anti-virus protection material onto the phone so that you’re protected against theft and protected against viruses

H: So this is the way of backing-up if you like - as we would call it in computer terms – everything you’ve got on here so it’s safe, but then at the same time making it so that you can - as we just saw in the clip there – somebody can, if they stole your phone you just phone up RemoteXT.com and say “hey, look what’s happened, my phone’s been stolen” – render that phone useless?

R: Yes I mean just as we saw in the footage when that unfortunate young lady had her phone stolen, she’s rung the call centre which is a secure line, she’s gone through a series of security questions, we then sent a message to the phone which will lock the device, lock the sim card, wipe all the data so it totally zaps and kills the phone, takes everything off there, so any email messages you have, any texts, any photos – clear that completely, and then we’ll start to emit the loud scream that will be a continual scream until the battery is taken out.

H: So that phone will never be able to be used again?

R: No once the thief then calms down, puts the battery back in, perhaps changes the sim card, or takes the sim card out and tries to sell it on the black market, that phone will carry on screaming and carry on with a message on the scream which says “this phone is locked” so in essence the phone is totally useless, has no value on the black market, and hence starts to contribute to the reduction in this growing area of mobile phone theft

H: Right well ok we’ve just had a question that’s come in from Peter on that self-same subject, so Peter hopefully that answers your question. Just in case you’re wondering “hey there’s something I really need to ask” now is the time to send in your question. If you look at your screen at the moment running at the bottom square there you’ll find there’s a little block that you can put your questions in. Send them off to us straight away and as soon as you press the send button it comes into our studio here. The guys will have a look at that, send it through to me, it’ll be on my screen in front of me and then we can ask Richard here and clear up any misunderstandings and any queries you might have about RemoteXT.com and exactly what they’re doing. This is completely brand new, no one’s come up with anything like this before?

R: No I mean today literally is quite a revolutionary day for the mobile phone industry because this is the first service of this nature that offers a complete set-up of a phone quickly, new functionality on a phone, i.e. email, protection against viruses and then a huge amount of protection with regards to backing up all your data. I think yes the way mobile phones are moving, basically they’re really mini mobile phones with a laptop built into them, so where we’re coming from, we’re saying all that data that’s on there, all that information, all that personal, valuable information, not just corporate stuff but personal photographs or texts from a loved one or a family member, all those things that are important to people, they’re backed-up on a daily basis, you don’t have to plug it into the computer or remember to do it. It’s done remotely, you get a little text confirming that we’ve backed it up so you’ve got complete peace of mind there, and then when you change your handset for example, on a positive note, if you’ve got a new, for example if you’ve changed to a new, modern, sexy phone, we can then copy all the information back onto that phone for you again in 8 very simple clicks

H: People have always been quite worried about the fact that their information is getting lost, now as you say at one time, rightly, phones were just being used for making phone calls on, but they do hold so much more now don’t they? And actually phones are being combined with hand-held palm top computers virtually?

R: Yes I mean that’s right, the beauty of RemoteXT.com is that it does facilitate that, we put email onto your phone as I’ve already said very quickly and efficiently, so rather than having to go through technical jargon and working with computer experts, you know just by accepting those 8 clicks and answering a couple of questions prior to that on the call centre line, you know we made that phone into in essence a very powerful business tool, in a very simple way and in a way that for most people it will have a similar look to the screen as you’d see in the screen in your computer in your home or your office every day, so yes the amount of information, and also the access – a lot of people have a group of computers that talk to each other, like a network as we would call it in the IT industry, you know that’s a potential risk. Through that phone you can get onto that server, you can get onto that network. Now if this device gets into the wrong hands, that’s a complete and utter vulnerability, so whether it’s a small one-man builder or whether it’s a large sort of group of accountants, you know the same principal applies – that information is private and it’s important and it should be kept safe

H: So it’s as much about the information, in fact more about the information than it really is about the hardware, the phone itself?

R: I think the reality being, when your phone is stolen, obviously for most people it’s a traumatic experience, and sadly in the media we’re seeing some awful muggings for phones, you know people using guns now to the head, literally to take the handset, and the main reason for that almost growth in that is because the handsets are becoming more sexier, they’ve got more functions, they’ve got cameras on them, they’ve got email on them, yes they are mini computers, so from that point of view they’re a valuable thing to be stolen

H: Sure

R: We will render the issue and stop the issue of the mobile phone being any use to anybody by killing it and wiping it, but you know that disruption doesn’t stop there, it’s the next morning when the new box arrives and you’ve got your new phone in front of you – how do you get all the information back, where is it all? You might have a few numbers on a bit of scrap paper, you may have your email somewhere, you know on your computer at work but how do you get that back to your phone, how do you restore all those pictures that you’ve taken, or probably more important now the ring tones, it’s the cost of ring tones, and even top businessmen they like their favourite songs so there’s some personal value to this piece of kit now. It was an impersonal tool at one point; I think it’s now an extension of people’s personalities

H: I’ve been the victim of someone stealing my phone, I wasn’t with it at the time but I know someone nicked it, but in terms of that how wide scale is this now? I read some pretty scary figures about mobile phones and how much they attribute to mugging

R: I think the stats from the government, every 12 seconds now a mobile phone is stolen –

H: Wow

R: You know that’s quite a dramatic figure and last year it cost average users like us £350 million worth of handsets that were stolen, so it’s a huge growth industry and even with older handsets that may only be worth a couple of pounds down the pub because they’re very old-fashioned, if they’re sent abroad in large quantities that has a value, and so you’re talking about whole organised crime as well as the petty thief who is just trying to make a quick few quid selling it down the pub

H: Ok, just a sobering thought for you whilst you’ve been watching this for the past 10 minutes, I can tell you that 60 mobile phones 6-0 mobile phones have been stolen just while you’ve been watching this. That’s how widespread it is. We’ve got a question in from Philippe, thank you very much indeed Philippe for your question. He says, “If my phone is stolen and I get a new one, how can I upload the information?” The old information – how easy is that? Ok you phone up RemoteXT.com and you say, “my phone was stolen, I’ve got a new one now – give me my information”. Well surely anyone can do that can’t they?

R: No you ring up the secure number that’s only given out obviously to people that are subscribers of the service, you’re then taken through a series of questions, so the same level of security to that of your banking, or sort of your credit card companies, so you’re taken through a whole series of security. We cannot see any of the data that we’re holding. Once you’ve passed through security we make sure your new handset is compatible with system, and in essence most new phones from 2006 onwards are compatible. We make sure the system’s compatible we then send you a text message you click to accept and then you click the ok button another 7 times, so a total of 8 very simple clicks, and then your phone is completely restored with all your settings, with all your information, all your ring tones, all your music, all your email and all your texts and mobile phone numbers. It is that simple

H: It’s as easy as that. Philippe thank you very much for your question, more questions coming in – if you’ve got a question for us, don’t forget, just bash it out straight away on that little box on the bottom of the screen there, send it off to us and we’ll get it straight off to Richard straight away here. We’re talking about RemoteXT.com and their way of reducing if not making it completely useless to mug anyone for the mobile phone. 300 – is it £390 million pounds worth –

R: Yes somewhere between £350-£390 million a year, so that’s a huge, huge crime area

H: It is a huge area you’re absolutely right Richard. Good question from James here, James wants to know “is RemoteXT only available in the UK?”

R: No it’s fully functional in any country that has GPRS, so that’s by the day is increasing –

H: Pretty much all of them

R: The majority of countries where you or I would go on holiday or travel on business, you know we cover – we’re working across Europe, we’re in conversations with companies in America, Australia and South Africa where GPRS is obviously in everyday use, it’s a very simple device that works on phones across the globe

H: Now when I heard of this today I thought “fantastic” – like all the great ideas “why didn’t someone think of this before?” but what a great idea, but what’s been the reaction of the mobile phone providers and the operators of this new technology, because presumably they must be cockahoo with it?

R: I think there’s been a lot of press recently about the government trying to set up bodies and commissioning bodies to control this area of sadly growth of crime, we would very much welcome the opportunity of hearing from the likes of Vodafone and O2 and indeed the handset manufacturers –

H: Have they called?

R: No I’ve been trying to get hold of Quetec to say we need to work together, to talk to HTC the manufacturers because this is a huge, huge problem in the market and there’s also a bigger problem, it’s not just the theft element – getting a smart phone to work and set it up, unless you’re a techy, geeky guy which I’m not and I’m sure you’re not – it is a problem and if we can work together with the mobile phone providers like Vodafone and Orange and work together with the handset manufacturers, we can a) make these handsets more functional, get people to get the best use out of them so they get better value for money from their service provider, better value for money for the handset – and as importantly start to combat this crime issue because once this phone is wiped and locked as we’ve already said, it is no use to the thief, it has got no use at all, so the more and more handsets that grow with this product on it, that will see a dramatic downturn in the crime levels in this country

H: Pippa’s just called, thank you very much indeed Pippa, she’s just given us a quick text and said “oi, how do I sign up for this service because it sounds perfect for my corporate phone?” So what do people do, how do they get into this straight away

R: Ok, very simple they log onto the RemoteXT.com website, so it’s www. RemoteXT.com, once they’re online they go through a whole series of very simple explanations of the product, I think one of the biggest problems with the technology market is everything’s so complicated and especially with this whole smart phone business as it grows with Windows on it, email, calendars, all the music – you know that’s quite scary for some people, that’s quite scary for some people, especially small business people that won’t have the support of a network engineer at their company, they won’t have an IT specialist, so you log onto the website, the website is written completely and utterly in very simple English, you know and you then express an interest in the product, and then we work in partnership with a number of major resellers like Carphone Warehouse (their corporate division), Premier Mobiles, companies like that who will then contact you and take you through the process of setting up your mobile phone with RemoteXT

H: But I’m assuming Pippa’s question really is “is it pretty tricky, is it going to take me a long time?”

R: No I mean once you’ve made the enquiry someone will contact you once you’ve agreed to take the package it is as simple as the 8 clicks, you know it is that simple, it’s clicking the green “ok” button on your phone 8 times and away you go, so no techy jargon, no awkward questions. If you want to synchronize it to a company server for example there are a couple of very simple pieces of information but we talk you through that, we tell you how to find that out or who to ask and if you haven’t got that understanding we’ve got technical people on hand that can deal with that because for this technology to combat crime and to become widespread it has to be usable for everybody, so it’s got to be you know the one-man builder through to the corporate bank chief exec you know who has probably got less understanding of technology than the builder, we need to have a very simple balance and approach to it

H: Ok Richard, imagine someone’s whipped this phone, I wish they wouldn’t because I’ve only just got it, they take the sim card out –

R: Yes

H: Fantastic, got rid of that sim card so I can put another sim card in

R: Yes

H: So that makes it a perfectly usable phone again but I know you’re saying it doesn’t?

R: No, we lock the sim card, which obviously helps to protect you, but more importantly we lock the phone. The way that mobile phones have worked probably up until the last 12 months, most people will keep their data onto their sim card because if you change handsets or you change providers –

H: This sim card’s been with me quite some time; it’s gone from phone to phone –

R: Yes same as mine, my Vodafone sim card’s been with me for 10 years now but you get your handsets or indeed you may have changed provider, you may have got a better deal from 02 or Orange and then you go to put your sim card in, yes your phone number will work but 9 times out of 10 there’s compatibility issues because – a little bit like an Apple Mac and a PC, you know they talk different languages and you know a lot of the providers and manufacturers have different languages on them. The beauty of RemoteXT.com is it takes all your data when we back-up every day and it keeps it in a format that is compatible with any network and it’s compatible with any manufacturer’s software, so that then allows us to put the software back on and all your information back on to the new handset in a matter of 8 clicks without any hassle

H: So it’s that easy to do?

R: It is that simple

H: Ok we’ve got a question that’s just come in from Barry, thank you Barry for your question “if the phone is stolen how long would it take to get the scream sent to it?” Is it a pretty short moment between it being nicked – because obviously you’ve got to get it there pretty quickly haven’t you?

R: Yes well it takes – to put it into context if you ring up your network provider, there’s been some recent press in some of the nationals, the Daily Mail etc that have talked about taking up to 48 hours for a network to lock your sim card. We are looking at somewhere in the region of 20 seconds to 2 minutes. We can’t give a guaranteed time because it’s the time it takes for an SMS to get to your phone. If the phone is put into a lead box or put into an area that there isn’t a signal and the thief then takes out the sim card, if you’ve enabled that option which is a choice when you set it up, the simple removal of the sim card will automatically lock it as well. So from that point of view it’s completely foolproof, the phone’s completely locked and it’s dead, it’s killed, it can never be used again

H: Can you unlock it? I mean if I lose my phone, which I’m prone to do, just like my car keys and most other things that I’ve got short-term memory loss on, if I put that down and I think the phone’s been stolen, bit like my credit card, then you’ve locked it off, what happens then when I find it 3 days later down the back of the sofa?

R: You know it’s interesting because I have a 5-year-old son, Isaac, he’s always playing with my mobile phone and there’s been many a time when I think, “I’ve lost my phone”. Now I haven’t gone to lock it because you know I’m quite convinced it’s in the house, but if you’re in a situation where a family member’s taken the phone by mistake or you know it has slipped down the side of the sofa, we lock the phone for you in the same way and treat it as a theft or a loss, when you then go back through to security you say to us “actually we found the phone”, we check that it’s you, we take you through the secure questions and then we just turn the phone – we stop the scream and –

H: You can unlock it?

R: Yes. And the nice thing is, you know if you have lost the phone and we lock it, you’ll be very easily to find the phone because it’ll start screaming!

H: Can you demonstrate, just take us through –

R: Yes, basically if I make a call to the call centre now which is not a problem, what they will do – I’ll tell them it’s me to speed up the process – but –

H: You just hope they’re there! We’ll be there in a second, honest we will!

R: Hi it’s Richard Beasley. Good afternoon. My password, ok so “Isaac”. 64442. 4/9/73. Yes my phone’s been stolen can you please lock and wipe it. That’s great thanks very much. Bye bye. Ok so I’m in a situation now where I’ve gone through security, they’ve asked me my password, they’ve asked me some other details and a relevant number and they’ve asked me for my date of birth. Now those randomly change, it’s no different to when you ring up your bank like First Direct

H: Sure

R: And within, you know however many seconds we’ll start to hear an emission of a scream and then the phone will lock and will have a display saying the phone is locked (Sound of screaming). So we’ll leave the phone there and we’ll wait and see for it to come through. So it really is that simple, it’s designed and also our staff have got to be trained because they could be dealing with people in distress, you know they genuinely could have been mugged in a physical way, they’re obviously shook up or they’re in a panic because there’s lots of information in that phone, they may have a pin number on it but I’m going to be very honest with you, that’s a very simple task, you know there’s a lot of criminals who have simple technology and a lap top, within a couple of seconds can undo that number, so they’re starting to panic now that the phone data’s vulnerable and also there’s a potential selling-on of the handset

H: I’ve got a feeling you’ve got – have you got screams there?

R: No it’s not come through. (Sound of screaming) There we go. Now you’ve got the scream coming through, it’s a very ear-piercing scream

H: It is pretty horrific isn’t it? How did you choose the scream as opposed to a beeping noise or an alarm sound –

R: We talked long and hard about should it be a message that says “this phone has been stolen” but actually we wanted something that’s dramatic, so as the thief is hurtling through the high street, he or she, as they’re running into a car park to try and get out of trouble, this scream is continually carrying on –

H: It’s not the sort of thing you want to be somewhere near is it?

R: No, no and then on the screen here it actually says that the device is locked and we’ve got emergency calls only

H: Let’s hold that up there and keep it up there for a second and see if we can get in on that, and just see that there. That’s great, ok we’ve got that on screen, fine, so that shows us what we’ve got on there and that hopefully I mean you can get that unlocked again afterwards can’t you?

R: Yes and if I take the battery out the scream will stop and then it will carry on once I put the battery back in

H: So even if you’re powered down, the minute you power back up again –

R: That’s correct yes

H: Ok plenty of questions been coming in so far, haven’t got long left now so please if you’ve got any questions now is the time to get those questions in and Richard is only here for the next 10 minutes or so. More questions just coming up, what law enforcement agencies have you teamed up with because I’m assuming police forces and crime prevention operatives are going to be saying “this is brilliant”

R: Yes, I mean we’ve been working with people like Jack Wraith who has got a whole division now set up to control mobile phone theft and we’re working very hard with the local police. We met with the commissioner, the superintendent rather of the Met Police on Wednesday whose had a full demo of the phone and you know these guys are working incredibly hard to protect average people like you and I on the high street, and really it has to be a team effort. Our product is fantastic, it is going to massively, dramatically help the downturn of mobile phone theft but we need to work closely with the police, and one of the things we are doing is if we get a situation, say for example an area like Coventry where we’re seeing a real large pocket of people having their phones stolen, we’re having to lock probably a higher percentage rate, we’ll be working closely with that local constabulary to say “this is the information we have this is the information we have on the theft, is the type of handset that’s been stolen” (because we have all that data obviously –

H: Course

R: On the system so –

H: Chances are if someone asked me I’d tell them it’s a little black phone with a shiny screen, that’s all I know really

R: And for a lot of people that’s true, but as I said you know like fashion brands, they’re becoming a bit iconic so people are very sensitive about which handset they’ve got, what model it is, you know what features it’s got so I think the awareness – they probably know more about mobile phones than you and I do so

H: We just don’t care do we?

R: No

H: We just don’t care. Most of my friends says Jeremy – thank you for the question Jeremy – have had their mobile phone stolen at some stage but you can’t go without one so what are you to do, what are your top tips certainly for minimising the risk of losing your mobile phone, because there’s a lot of dos and don’ts, even before we get to that horrible scream that ends up coming out

R: I think taking the precaution of using RemoteXT.com you know obviously as a given to back-up the information, you know that protects the data, all your emails etc on there. Locking and wiping it is obviously after the effect really. I think your analogy at the beginning of the show was spot on – you know I don’t walk along the high street with my wallet on show, there’s a very good chance that there’s some credit cards in there, some personal information, you know people sadly keep pin numbers hidden away at the end of the phone number that thieves are quite quick to gather that information. I think keep your mobile phone out of use as much as possible, so don’t have it on show. When you’re shopping for example, you know with the new measures of security with credit cards, we’re all so worried about our chip and pin number being seen, it’s very easy to put your mobile phone on the side of the counter in a shop, that’s a very quick opportunity. You know ladies with handbags, gents with briefcases, try and put it inside a zip pocket, try and keep the briefcase or the bag zipped up, you know very simple measures. When you’re on a train, don’t leave it on the table when you go and grab a coffee from the food cart, take it with you. It sounds obvious but that’s where a lot of the theft goes on, it’s just opportunists and that’s what we’re really trying to stamp out, when a product’s got RemoteXT.com it’s another barrier to stop that

H: Of course this is only going to work eventually in bringing down the amount of muggings and the amount of crime there is for mobile phone theft if most people have got RemoteXT on their phone; because there’s going to be a chance that someone’s going to say, “Have they got it? Haven’t they got it?” so what you really need is you need lots of people to sign up for this because that’s going to reduce it down anyway isn’t it?

R: Yes completely and I think people genuinely believe that this product is so powerful, both in making mobile phones more functional with the email, with the virus protection – it’s also giving us a great opportunity you know to protect the phone and make it more of a mass market appeal, so the more people that take it on, yes clearly that’s going to stamp out mobile phone crime. It’s not going to happen overnight, do we expect the 50 / 60 million users to subscribe? I would love that today. I think there’s also got to be an emphasis on the people who are selling the mobile phones to make sure that people are aware of this product and promote it, and the same with the manufacturers as we said earlier

H: Ok, Nora with a question, Nora’s question is quite to the point – we like you Nora, thanks for your question “how much does it cost and are there different degrees of options that you can have in the package?”

R: Ok, the package that we’ve been talking about today, RemoteXT is £9.99 plus VAT a month. Now that gives you the full back- up service everyday, it also locks and wipes the phone and kills the phone –

H: So if I add some new numbers in say tomorrow for some new mates I’ve just met and I bung them into my phone so I’ve got all their contacts and a few extra emails that come in, every day that’s going to get backed-up?

R: Yes it is, it backs up any additional changes or deletions, anything new or anything old that’s taken off it updates it, so it’s not taking a back-up of the whole phone, it’s to keep the amount of data that we transfer to a minimum, but it backs up yes – so if you bump into someone in a bar and taken a number and you’ve set your phone to be backed up at midnight every night (because you can choose what time) yes it will back-up that information. But also for that money I think it’s a lot more than just that. The increase in viruses on mobile phones are on the up, so just like probably people that are watching today have had a virus probably sent to them on email on a home computer or a business computer –

H: That’s going to happen to them on their phone as well?

R: Yes that will be via SMS texting, via email that comes through and also through Bluetooth so the cordless handsets that – rightfully so – people use to drive hands-free, that is a vulnerability to a phone, so it gives you full virus protection and on top of that when you get a new, smart phone in a box it looks great, it can accept email but how do you set it up? You know who do you ring, how much is it going to cost you to set it up -

H: I still haven’t worked that out!

R: Exactly but 8 simple clicks Murray and that phone will be receiving email and setting up, so for that money it gives you the full functionality – basically it makes your mobile phone into a small laptop with all the additional security protection and the back-up, without you having to think “have I backed my phone up, have I plugged it in” – you know like the old PDAs because obviously this works on PDAs now most people have to plug them into their computers to synchronize it, that does all that remotely without you having to touch a button

H: All right. I just need to know and I guess a lot of other people would as well – if I’m handing you over my emails and my contact list and all that, where is all of that and what’s the guarantee that that’s safe for us?

R: Ok, the security that we’re using is to the standard that any bank or government would insist on for controlling or handling data of this nature. We can’t see the data, we can’t see your phone numbers, it’s almost locked into like a little box with like a safe number that’s put onto a part of a server computer. Only you can see that information when it’s unlocked with your passwords and put onto your handsets with your permission. Peace of mind -

H: Sure. You’re governed by law on that anyway?

R: Yes completely and we couldn’t be in a position that would offer a service anything less than that

H: Alright, ok, Jeremy’s back with us, Jeremy thank you for being so prevalent in today’s programme. Aren’t we putting our own safety at risk by buying these complex, expensive phones? Wouldn’t it be better to just carry a basic phone and text phones, which are less attractive to thieves and muggers? As you said they go for the iconic ones rather than the basic phones, I guess some people are just after the information aren’t they?

R: Yes I think there’s a combination, even if all the phones went back to being very basic black and white phones that would just mean that everyone needs a black and white phone, so there’d still be a demand there because unfortunately there’s lots of unsavoury characters that will at the pub or the office buy a cheap phone, knowing fully well it’s been stolen but actually they just want a newer model or they’ve just dropped theirs or lost theirs and they want to replace it. I think the reality is, whether we like it or not, the way that technology’s going, if I said to you all of us would be using email in our homes 5 years ago with a system that’s on all the time, you wouldn’t have believed that, and the way that mobile phones have moved, and I think the technology is here to stay and the very fact that we’re all embracing that technology is proof that RemoteXT is needed sadly for a product like that

H: RemoteXT is for mobile phones, we’ve seen similar things happen with – car stereos for instance, Sian’s made a very good point about car stereos they’ve got a code on them which renders them useless as well – it still doesn’t stop people nicking them, the thieves are still not bright enough to realise that RemoteXT might be on that mobile phone, so it’s going to take a while for this to catch in isn’t it?

R: It is but I think the reality is if you put a burglar alarm on your house, there’s still a burglar who will be thick enough to look at the neighbour’s house without one and still go for the one with one, for whatever reason. I think there’s only so much we can do but what it does do, is it does protect your information, and I think the way people are doing internet banking on their phones now, they’re accessing confidential business computers through their mobile phones, that makes it a lot more attractive for the thief to get hold of confidential information. If people do get hold of your bank details, that opens up a catastrophic situation to vulnerability for you with regards to money being stolen and taking your identity which we all know is a growing industry, so this gives complete peace of mind. Once that phone has been zapped by RemoteXT.com it’s completely and utterly clean so you’re protected 100% at that point

H: Richard, listen we’re out of time, thank you very much for your questions, I hope we’ve answered some of your questions. Richard thank you very much indeed for coming in and just explaining this to a laymen in the whole thing. When I first heard about this I thought I’m never going to get this, but I do kind of get it now – the idea really is that everything that’s on here you can keep in a little locked pigeon hole for me and I can have it back whenever I want?

R: That’s right

H: And you can stop someone else getting it

R: And you can get all your email on the phone set up in 8 clicks which would normally be incredibly complicated to do, so it gives you a lot more functionality, protects you and also annoys that horrible unpleasant thief that’s trying to nick it because RemoteXT.com’s screaming its head off at them and wiped the phone dead

H: You’ve probably just given the address there, but just give it to us again, where do people find out more?

R: It’s, if you log onto www. RemoteXT.com, all the information is there in very simple English, so hopefully that will help people get more out of their phones and give them total peace of mind and protection

H: Excellent, look forward to seeing this in action in the next couple of months but not on my phone, please. Thank you very much indeed for your questions; please join us again next time when we talk more about consumer issues. Bye bye.

R: Thank you